"'Upside Down' from In the Valley of Elah ," written by Mark Isham, courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc./Summit Entertainment, LLC; "'March to the Dead City' from Battle for the Planet of the Apes ," written by Leonard Rosenman, courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; "'Do You Miss London' from Spy Game ," written by Harry Gregson Williams, courtesy of Beacon Pictures.

Song Text:

"Charlie's Tune," written by Joseph Liebman, performed by Bobby Short, courtesy of Revlon, Inc.; "Hip-Hug-Her," written by Steve Cropper, Donald Dunn, Al Jackson, Jr. and Booker T. Jones, performed by Booker T. & The MG's, courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp./Rhino Entertainment Company, by arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing; "Little T&A," written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, performed by The Rolling Stones, courtesy of Promotone B.V.; "Dance the Night Away," written by Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth, performed by Van Halen, courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc., by arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing; "Sultans of Swing," written by Mark Knopfler, performed by Dire Straits, courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc., by arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing; "Adhan - Call to Prayer," traditional, arranged and performed by Shaam, courtesy of Meem Ltd.; "Concrete Jungle," written by Rod Byers, performed by The Specials, courtesy of EMI Records Ltd., under license from EMI Film & Television Music; "When the Levee Breaks," written by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham, performed by Led Zeppelin, courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp., by arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing; "Abwoon Call to Prayer," written and performed by Jahanara Laura Mangus; "Stalking Stars," written and performed by Andrew Lockington; "Al Adhan," traditional, arranged by Pat Jabbar, performed by Youssef El Mejjad, courtesy Barraka Productions; "Hace Tuto Guagua," traditional, arranged by Taato Gomez, performed by Familion, courtesy of Epic Records, by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing.

Source Text:

Based on the book The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA by Antonio J. Mendez and Malcolm McConnell (New York, 1999) and the magazine article "The Great Escape" by Joshuah Bearman ( Wired , 2007).

As he suffers from cancer, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the former Shah of Iran, is granted political asylum in the United States following his controversial reign. On November 4, 1979, Iranian citizens protest Pahlavi's asylum by storming the United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Armed revolutionaries take the American embassy workers hostage, except for six who manage to escape: senior consular officer Bob Anders and fellow officers, Mark Lijek and Joe Stafford; office assistants Cora Lijek and Kathy Stafford; and cultural attaché, Lee Schatz. At the U.S. State Department in Washington, D. C., Robert Pender and his colleague, Bates, learn about the six escapees, who are now in hiding at the home of Canadian Ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor. Meanwhile, Hamilton Jordan, President Jimmy Carter's Chief of Staff, instructs government officials to disregard the six escapees while they focus on the hostages inside the U.S. Embassy. Sixty-nine days later, over sixty American hostages are still being held in Tehran while the escapees remain at Ambassador Taylor's house. In Virginia, Tony Mendez, an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and exfiltration expert, learns from his supervisor, Jack O'Donnell, that the Canadian government wants the American escapees out of Taylor's home immediately. Jack tells Tony that while the Iranian militants have not yet discovered that six Americans are missing, they are currently re-assembling shredded documents containing mug shots of the entire embassy staff. During a meeting with Jack and Tony, Pender says that roadblocks have been erected in Iran, so the escapees cannot leave by car; in turn, he suggests that someone deliver them bicycles and maps so that they can ride through the mountainside into Turkey. Tony rejects the idea, along with another suggestion that the escapees fly out of the country disguised as American teachers, reminding his colleagues that the international school in Iran was shut down eight months ago. That night, Mendez calls his son, Ian, who is watching a science fiction film, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, on television. The film inspires Tony, who later suggests the following rescue operation to the State Department: Tony will pretend to be "Kevin Harkins," a Canadian film producer, travel to Iran for a location scout, and travel back with the escapees, posing as his film crew. Although several people protest the idea as too flamboyant, Tony tells them that he can secure the help of John Chambers, a prosthetics designer in the film industry who has previously done CIA contract work. In Tehran, the Iranian militants piece together information from recovered embassy documents to discover that six American workers are missing. Meanwhile, Tony obtains permission to move ahead with his operation, and, on January 19, 1980, he travels to Los Angeles to meet with John Chambers. At the Burbank Studios, Tony tells John about his plans to set up a fake company, Studio Six Productions, while pretending to produce a science fiction film. John says he will help, but tells Tony that they need an actual script and a producer with Hollywood credibility. Soon after, Lester Siegel, an older film producer who has passed his prime, agrees to take part. In Tehran, the Taylors' Iranian housekeeper, Sahar, becomes suspicious of the escapees, although she has been told that they are Canadian houseguests. When Tony finds a screenplay for a science fiction film set in the Middle East, titled Argo, he presents it to Lester, who quickly obtains film rights for $10,000. Lester confesses to Tony that he has two daughters whom he only sees once a year, and Tony commiserates, saying he has a son who lives with his estranged wife. Although Tony needs another week to make the film production a viable cover, Jack tells him that he must go to Iran immediately, as the escapees are in danger of being found. Concerned that Studio Six Productions only has an office, business cards, and a poster for Argo, Tony tells John and Lester that the production needs more legitimacy, so they place advertisements in the trade magazine, Variety, and arrange a script-reading at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with film journalists in attendance. While the script-reading takes place, an Iranian woman makes a televised announcement that the Iranian revolutionaries believe the American hostages are spies and claims they will be tried and sentenced. Meanwhile, hostages are threatened by firing squads. After receiving final approval for his mission, Tony flies to Istanbul, Turkey, on January 27, 1980, where he, disguised as Kevin Harkins, obtains an Iranian visa. In Washington, D. C., Pender informs Jack that the Iranian militants have learned that six Americans are hiding out with the Canadians, and there is little time before they are found. At the airport in Tehran, Tony steals extra customs forms for the escapees, and, after he is admitted into the country, goes to the Islamic Culture office to apply for a film permit. As he rides through the city, Tony sees corpses of people who were publicly hanged and truckloads of armed revolutionaries. On a side street, Tony meets Ambassador Taylor, who provides him with Canadian passports for the escapees. Tony later introduces himself as Kevin Harkins to the six Americans inside Taylor's home and provides them with screenplays for Argo, fake identities, and dossiers to memorize. The next day, Tony informs the group that they must conduct a fake location scout at the Grand Bazaar that afternoon. Joe refuses, insisting that he will not put himself and his wife in danger; however, he is later persuaded when Tony reveals his true identity and pleads for Joe's trust. The group disguise themselves with slight changes to hair color and modes of dress, but, on the way to the Grand Bazaar, they run into a marching mob that beats on their van and intimidates them. Reza Borhani, an aide from the Islamic Culture office, greets the "filmmakers" at the bazaar and guides them through the marketplace. Pretending to be the production designer, Kathy takes Polaroid photographs, causing one vendor to become irate. As the vendor shouts at Borhani and the foreigners, a mob begins to form and the Americans flee from the bazaar. At the Taylor home, a militant named Ali Khalkhali interrogates Sahar through the gate, demanding information about Taylor's houseguests. Frightened, Sahar says that the guests have only been there for two days and promises that they are friends of Iran, prompting Khalkhali to leave before the Americans return home. That night, Tony interrogates the escapees on their covert identities, convincing them that they will be shot at the airport the next day if they answer one question too slowly or with the wrong information. Tony gets a call from Jack alerting him that the White House has canceled his exfiltration plan because a military rescue of the hostages still held at the American embassy is in the works, and over concern that they could be humiliated by Tony's outlandish operation if it fails. After a sleepless night, Tony informs Jack that he plans to remove the escapees with or without approval. Since President Carter must okay the operation before airplane tickets can be purchased, Jack calls the White House, pretending to be a school official with emergency news about one of Carter's children. As Tony and the escapees arrive at the airport, there are no airline reservations under his name; however, the tickets are confirmed within moments and the group proceeds to a customs checkpoint. There, the customs officers cannot find documents to prove that Tony's fellow travelers entered the country two days ago as they claim. After they finally gain access to the airport terminal, Tony's group is sent into a room for interrogation when a guard checks their passports and becomes suspicious. The guard yells at the group in Farsi, and Joe, the only one who is fluent in the language, responds, explaining that they are Canadian filmmakers. Showing deference to the guard, Joe provides him with a copy of Argo's advertisement in Variety and various storyboards. After the guard warns that he must verify the production before they can leave, Tony provides him with a business card containing the telephone number to the Studio Six office in Los Angeles. The guard calls the number twice, and John rushes to answer, responding to the guard's request for Kevin Harkins by saying that Kevin is out of the country on a location scout. Satisfied, the guard allows the group to go, and they board an airplane bound for Switzerland. Upon receiving reassembled photographs of the six escapees, Khalkhali raids Taylor's home in search of the Americans and calls the airport when he realizes they have fled. One of Khalkhali's cohorts rushes to the airport to inform the guards, but, although Iranian police and airport guards try to chase down the airplane, the flight takes off with the Americans inside. Soon after, as the flight attendant announces that they have cleared Iranian air space, the group rejoices. At the CIA office, Jack celebrates the successful rescue, while Lester and John do the same in Los Angeles. Sahar flees to Iraq that day, and the Taylors evade the militants as well. In order to protect American hostages still in Iran, Canada publicly takes credit for the exfiltration. Tony learns that he will receive the Intelligence Star, the CIA's highest award, in secret, and, later, he visits the home of his estranged wife, Christine, who embraces him upon arrival.